what is true universal #Hinduism by #francoisgautier

I was a born and brought-up as a catholic and knew absolutely nothing about India, Hinduism and Hindus. When I was a young Frenchman of 19, I had the privilege to hear about the Mother and Sri Aurobindo, through a friend, whose father was the last Governor of Pondichery. My friend told me that a caravan of 5 cars was about to drive from Paris to Pondichery. On a hunch, I joined this caravan.
Upon arriving in Delhi after driving trough nine countries, I felt I had come home and that this country was a very special place.
I lived in the Pondichery Sri Aurobindo ashram for seven years. These were wonderful times: the Mother was still alive and everything looked new, everything seemed possible. One read Sri Aurobindo, of course, as he was the Master and the inspiration of the place, but one either did not understand or felt disconnected to his political writings.
Then, having done some journalism and photography in France, I started freelancing in South India and I discovered the Hindus. What I chanced upon was that their religion was not in their heads, as it is for us Christians – “I must pray, I must be good, I must not sin” – but that it was rather something they lived: they seemed, for instance, to accept me, a Westerner, a non Hindu, as they seemed to accept all other religions. This discovery would never leave me, even when I became a political journalist in Delhi for major French newspapers.
Thus slowly, I became acquainted with the eternal principles of Hinduism:
• A Hindu is one who searches for the Ultimate Truth.
• Unlike other religions, Hinduism refuses to sanction the monopoly of one God, or one Scripture as the only way to salvation.
• Hinduism is the eternal faith, Sanataana Dharma, or the universal law by which all humans are governed.
• Hindus believe that the soul takes birth in a physical body, dies, gets reborn, until it has attained Perfect Divinity.
• Hindus believe that one can cleanse oneself from karmas through yoga practices, such as pranayama, meditation or asanas.
• One can be a Christian, a Muslim, a Jew, or from any other religion and still practice Hinduism. His Holiness Sri Sri Ravi Shankar has shown the way: breath has no religion and pranayama can be practiced by anybody, whatever their creed.
In that sense, I consider myself a Hindu
François Gautier

I passed out of school from The Mother’s International School in Delhi. You might perhaps be aware of this school (named after the Mother)… it shares the entire perimeter of the complex with Shri Aurobindo Aashram, Delhi branch, bang opposite IIT Delhi.

So many foreigners visit the Aashram in Delhi, and few live here as well, though of course not as many as in Puducherry! The Aashram in Puducherry, I suppose has lots of French followers, like you and Bollywood actress Kalki’s parents. 🙂 🙂

Every individual spirit lives on this earth through the evolutionary track of the spirit, which is embedded with a quality accumulated until now, that might be good or bad. Spiritual status of the individual is determined according to the karmic instincts in the spirit accumulated over several births. Spirituality has to free the individual from these basic instincts and limitations. This is possible only when an individual is capable to do action (karma) with an appropriate knowledge to nullify the bad instincts or qualities carried by the spirit. This appropriate knowledge is considered as dharma and this is to be learned from a Seer, who is the embodiment of dharma. This is the difference between a functioning spirituality and religious ritualism. Indian spirituality explains that everything in the world has its own qualitative status. The evolutionary process of sentient and insentient beings is due to the movement of time and the interaction of nature. The differences in the life forms and its spiritual status are due to the variations in their innate quality or guna. The jeevatma, the individual soul experiences worldly life through the prism of three qualities – satva, rajas and tamas. These three qualities and their intermixture condition our thoughts and actions. This in-depth spiritual view of India considers that everything is in the track of evolution at its various levels.

The evolution of the spirit from its lowest level to its perfect status is a process correlated with time. The aspect of time extends from the minutest micro to the universal macro level. Indian spirituality mentions about the yuga cycles (cosmic seasons) in between these two extremes. Indian spirituality is a perfect universal science in which the concepts of creation (srishti), stasis (stithi), dissolution (samhaara) and merging with the Ultimate are clearly defined. These are the four terms clearly defined by the sages in Indian spiritual tradition. This is not mere philosophy, but the science of transformation of the body and spirit, starting from the very micro level to its omnipotent status. Sanatana Dharma explains this science of evolution and its practical hierarchy. This is the very basic Indian philosophy taught through the Upanishadic concept, i.e. the Guru-Disciple dialogue. Guru-Disciple spirituality is a lifestyle or spiritual culture. There is the famous aphorism Mata, Pita, Guru, Daivam, which means that the evolution of the spirit of a child takes shape first through the mother and then through the father. The father takes the child to a Guru, who ultimately guides it to God. Here the Guru is not an ordinary teacher, but the spiritual authority of an age. Unfortunately, the Indians have mistaken Sanatana Dharma for the devi-deva worship.